Is there anything in Des Moines?

Upscale, ethnic, whatever?

Dvrstygrl's girl is from DesMoines and we go a few times a year to check in with the 'rents. There is a new West African restaurant right by Drake. I can't remember if it is Ghanian or Ivorian. It was really good and comparable/better than some of the African restaurants I have visited elsewhere. The Jellof rice and plantains rocked. Which are two of my bench marks for the regional cooking.

There is also a great Vietnamese restaurant. Great appetizers. I can't remember main dish specifics but they were good too.

Cookry (West African) 2314 Univeristy

A dong (Vietnamese) 15th and High

While you are there check out the East Village for great shops and some potentially interesting food. If you do go, stop in at Simply for Giggles- a boutique for children's gifts and decorating kids rooms. SFG is owned by my sister-in-law, Tanya and she can definitely point you to good restaurants. She's a total foodie.

zim posted a link on Chowhound a couple years ago to a Nayarit-style seafood place in Des Moines:

http://www.chowhound.com/midwest/boards ... 13970.html

Unfortunately, the nayarit place is gone, really too bad -how many mexican places do you have to wait while they throw wood into the fire to grill your fish over?

I haven't done a ton of exploring in des moines, but the area around the nayarit place I think may hold some good stuff, there's been a lot of recent mexican immigration to that area.

El rey de burrito in clive/west des moines is a serviceable taqueria, not unlike many around here thoug the meat choices are limited to chicken, chorizo, asada and pastor

I've had A dong a few times and was not blown away by it, but wasn't disappointed either, especially considering that we are speaking of vietnamese food in Des moines.

There's a thai place way out west, that I liked more than the one that comes up there downtown, unfortunately I don't remember more info.

Chocolaterie stam is a very good chocolate store near drake, I think they opened a gelato place near the art museum (I. M. Pei building), but haven't had a chance to try the gelato yet.

Smitty's pork tenderloins is an old school cool place and the tenderloins were pretty tasty, though I am not a connoiseur. It was written up some time back in the stern's roadfood site

as far as upscale, I don't do this much while I'm out there, so can't help you much on that front.

dvrstygrl wrote:Dvrstygrl's girl is from DesMoines and we go a few times a year to check in with the 'rents. There is a new West African restaurant right by Drake. I can't remember if it is Ghanian or Ivorian. It was really good and comparable/better than some of the African restaurants I have visited elsewhere. The Jellof rice and plantains rocked. Which are two of my bench marks for the regional cooking.

I'd like to resurrect this thread as I'm driving my youngest to Drake next week and will have opportunity to eat around. If anyone has the name of this African place, please post; or if you know of any good pork places (I mean, it's Iowa, right, got to have a few), I'd love to hear about them, too.

You'd think that, and then: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/p ... 39/archive

I believe there's a "pork tenderloin" thread floating about somewhere, but if you're looking for charcuterie or pork belly, I'd get your fill in Chicago before heading out of town. Otherwise, it's either going to be served on a stick or batter-dipped.

Having said that, you could do worse for BBQ than Flying Mango, a Catering company-cum-restaurant that does a bit of everything--BBQ, cajun, caribbean--and whose menu is diverse enough where one person can order platters and others in the party can order seafood entrees or salads. The size of the menu was somewhat disenchanting (but hardly a surprise given the demo), but I was pleasantly surprised this past weekend to discover that, while the smoked meats platter was no Kreuz's or Cozy Corner or even Honey One, it was surprisingly pretty good. Over-priced, yes, but you takes what yous gets in Iowa.

Lucca's, an Italian restaurant by the capital, was decent as well. I haven't eaten at Splash (seafood) or Centro (Italian small plates), but I'd be skeptical about both--Des Moines is making an earnest attempt at urban revitalization, but I wouldn't put my trust in it anymore than I would Bolingbrook's Promenade or the Glenview Town Center.

Two other thoughts: Sage is the "contemporary American" restaurant of the area (and was recommended when I checked chowhound before I headed to DM this past weekend); there is also some local chain that deep fries its tacos and is considered a local guilty pleasure. Having just been to the Iowa State Fair, and having seen how Iowans are at their most liberal with frying oil, I'll leave the interpreting up to you.

Depending on your travel plans, if you choose to eat dinner at a place off I-88 or I-80 on the way west, I would heartily suggest the Motley Cow Cafe in Iowa City, about five minutes off I-80 (exit 244). I'm spending a great deal of my time in IC working on a project and I eat here at least once a week; it's very much in the Lula Cafe vein of seasonality and ingredient-focusing--but lacks quite a bit of the pretension you'd find in a Chicago equivalent. The chef is, by the way, utterly fantastic with pork.

Flying Mango Restaurant and Catering
4345 Hickman Road
Des Moines, IA 50310
515-255-4111

Lucca
420 E Locust St
Des Moines, IA 50309
(515) 243-1115

The Motley Cow Cafe
327 E Market St
Iowa City, IA 52245
(319) 688-9177